Plenty to Learn
by Crocidolite
Summary: Jaspidot human university au. Jasper and Peridot are roommates in college, Jasper being the first in her family to go and Peridot having to settle after several failed exams. As Peridot comes to terms with her sexuality and Jasper struggles with anger problems and family issues, the two find ways to slot into each others lives. Smut chapter published in different story.
1. Chapter 1

Maybe this will teach you a lesson about hard work."

Her mum had sneered at her as she made Peridot's bed. Peridot's stuff was still in its boxes, as she tapped away at her computer, waiting for her mother to finish her vitriolic lecture and leave her here. Peridot's father hadn't even deigned to drop her off at the university. He hadn't even looked at her as she left the house, just sniffed as he continued to read his newspaper.

"I told you Peridot, I told you, you have talent but you're never going to get anywhere unless you apply yourself. Three failed exams!" Canary almost shrieked, wringing her hands hysterically."

Peridot nodded, still typing on her slim grey laptop. Her mother sighed, throwing the pillow on the bed and striding over to her daughter. She slammed down the lid of the laptop and Peridot barely had time to remove her hands before they were crushed.

"Jesus, woman!" Peridot exclaimed, finally looking up at her mother.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you! And I'm your mother, you shouldn't talk to me like that. Don't you understand what you've done? This is a disaster!" She gesticulated wilding around the room.

"This second rate university is going to be a permanent stain on your career!"

"I know mum. I know." Peridot slumped in her chair, rubbing her temples with the thumb and finger of one hand, covering her face.

"Oh honey." Canary placed a chronically cold hand on Peridot's back.

"Only you can get you through this. You're just going to have to struggle through with these other… kids. Just don't get too attached. This was a mistake. You don't belong here, with them. You're made of different stuff. I mean, honestly, do you think this is where you should be?" She picked up the university pamphlet, on which two burly men were grappling, and scoffed in disgust.

Suddenly, the door slammed open, making both mother and daughter jump. Filling the entire entrance was a huge woman and her equally huge hair, two large cardboard boxes dwarfed by her enormous arms. She wore a hoodie that barely concealed her chiselled body, the university name embossed proudly on the chest. Her long white hair ended at her knees, which were uncovered by her jean shorts and marked with scars and scabs. Her bronzed skin was spotted with darker patches, the most noticeable a large stripe on her face that crossed her eyes, large yellow eyes that glittered like a cat's. Her eyeliner was impeccable.

Peridot stared openly, jaw agape, before Canary pinched a hand down on her shoulder, the mother's face tight in an unnatural smile.

"You must be Peridot's roommate!" she exclaimed, offering a timid hand out to shake. Jasper's eyes locked onto the girl cowering in the chair and smirked, her eyebrow lifting cockily.

"Roommate?" she asked, ignoring the hand that drifted nervously in front of her.

"Yeah, I guess I am." She turned abruptly and headed towards the remaining bed, revealing a small man with a handlebar moustache grinning nervously behind her. He took Canary's hand in a sweaty handshake, pumping his arm and making introductions.

"Hello, hello, hello! I am Leo and this is my daughter Jasper! I suppose they will be sleeping together in this room together for university, no? It is good, your daughter looks like a smart girl." He clapped Peridot on the back, and boomed a laugh. He spoke with a slight accent that Peridot could not place, and she heard Jasper snort as he said their daughters would be sleeping together.

Jasper had turned her back on the conversation and was setting up her stuff. It was an oddly ascetic collection; the bed was made in a perfect military style and the only thing on her desk was a huge, ancient laptop. Peridot had expected more clutter, but other than a meagre collection of clothes and toiletries, she had nothing. No school supplies, no textbooks, not even a pen in sight. Peridot wondered how she thought she was going to make it through the school year. _She_ , of course, had a multitude of writing utensils in a practical green pencil case, along with several back up pens in each of her colour coded binders. Peridot sniffed at the aged computer, noting the bulky, battered, black exterior and shuddered to think of the viruses fermenting inside it. Her inspection turned to Jasper herself, who was smoothing the already immaculate bed sheets. She had giant hands, ones that seemed out of place doing menial work. Peridot could imagine them perhaps lifting large weights or putting steel beams into place, or tossing another person into bed. _What?_ She pinched her nose, moving her glasses up in a familiar motion. Peridot finally acknowledged the nagging thought that had pestered her ever since the roommate had entered.

Jasper was her type. The rolling muscles, the cocky smile, the…her… bosom. Peridot blushed and her face became pained.

 _You don't have to like her, Peri_ ,

She thought to herself.

 _Mind over matter. Just ignore it. She'd probably never be interested, anyway. Doesn't matter because YOU'RE not interested, right Peri? Right Peri_.

She gulped as Jasper bent over.

 _Yeah, just some glutes. Nothing to see there. I mean, it's kind of obscene and gross. Who does that, just bend over while making a bed? Obviously not someone you'd want to hook… up… with._

Her train of thought stuttered to a halt as Jasper stood up. Jasper turned around abruptly and saw Peri staring, shooting her a quick glare that made Peri retreat back into her chair.

 _Oh fuck now she thinks you're a weirdo. Great work, fuck up._

Jasper took her father by the arm, leading him out the room and away from the conversation that was having an increasing strain on Peridot's mother. From the corner of her eye, she saw them share a quick embrace in the hallways, tears streaming down Leo's face and a small, sad smile on Jasper's lips. He clasped both her hands and said something that looked heartfelt, making Jasper roll her eyes dramatically.

"It's rude to stare, Peridot," her mother reprimanded her softly, still recovering from Leo's enthusiastic introduction. She reached inside of her purse and retrieved her small spray hand sanitizer, spritzing her palms liberally.

"Well, good luck here, Peridot. I've helped you set up, you're on your own now. We'll call next week, okay. Love you." Canary patted Peridot quickly on the back and left, clearly uncomfortable and eager to leave now that Jasper and her father were around.

"Okay bye… mum." But Canary was already out the door, rearranging her hair back into its strict bob.

Peridot shrugged, and returned to her computer, vaguely aware of Jasper returning without her dad. And by vaguely aware, she meant watching Jasper's every move in the reflection of the lap top screen. Jasper eyed Peridot's boxes of unpacked stuff and pounced onto the bed, rumpling the sheets she had just spent a good five minutes making. As she saw Jasper's gaze wonder over to her, she stilled, realizing that she was being observed just as she was observing Jasper. Her looks were sharp and evaluative, the kholed eyes making a dramatic judge. Peridot's hands became sweaty, and she began to work in earnest, hunching over the device in front of her in an attempt to be less conspicuous. As she heard Jasper walk over, she stiffened, turning around in her chair just as Jasper leaned over to her, bringing their face unexpectedly close. For a moment, they stayed like that, Jasper's eyebrows raised in surprise, and Peridot could have leaned over and kissed her. She didn't though, and Jasper stood up straight, bringing them back to normal personal space parameters.

"What's that?" she asked brusquely, gesturing with a thick finger to the code on Peridot's screen.

"You probably wouldn't understand it." She blurted out honestly, before realizing how rude that sounded. "I mean, it's pretty technical and boring, so unless you take like, advanced coding or something they'd be no reason for you to know it so… yeah." She rambled to a stop, gulping thickly. Jasper was staring at her.

"You're kind of a nerd, aren't you?" It sounded more like a statement than a question. "I like that." She flicked Peridot's glasses up her nose, making the smaller girl squeal, and left the room, her thundering footsteps rattling around in Peridot's flustered brain. Her grip was knuckle white on the chair's arms.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

It was club sign up day, and stands filled the quad, one for every preference and hobby that could be thought of. It was chaotic and messy, and Peridot made a beeline for the robotics club, where a bunch of bespectacled youths were flying a small drone over the grass, making it disperse flyers into the air. She made introductions easily, bemoaning the price of new robot parts and laughing at humorous programming mistakes. Her name joined the club's roster, and she hung around to talk to a junior called Pearl, who was working a project similar to the one Peridot was tinkering with. She became quite involved in her explanation of the problem, gesticulating passionately with both hands and waving her arms about in exasperation, which is why she didn't notice the looming figure behind her.

"What's up, sluts."

Peridot yelped and jumped away from the booming voice, turning to see Jasper in her usual confident stance.

"Are you here to sign up for our club?" Pearls voice was surprising cold, and Peridot turned to her. The girl's face was pinched and her lips tight and pursed.

"Yeah, why not." Jasper returned breezily, grabbing the signup paper from some other kid and scribbling something that loosely resembled letters. She cuffed Peridot on the shoulder, and winked, leaving with, "You should sign up for one of my clubs, string bean."

Peridot could only stare in amazement as Jasper sashayed away, jaw agape. Pearl however, was far from impressed.

"What the hell is her problem!" she almost yelled, jerking Peridot out of her reverie.

"What, she just signed up for the club." Peridot had just met Pearl, and didn't want to jeopardize a friendship, but still something in her wanted to defend Jasper. Pearl tsked condescendingly, placing the sign up sheet back into the hands of the shaken freshman.

"Look at this!" she exclaimed, pointing to Jasper's signature. Right underneath, in exactly the same writing, someone had written Your Mum, with an email of 69ingwithjasper . Peridot let out a snort, though Pearl was too absorbed with scribbling it out to notice.

"Just like her brothers." She muttered, distain colouring her voice.

"Why, what were her brothers like?" Peridot was intrigued to learn more about her mysterious roommate.

"They were expelled for… harassing girls on campus." Pearl spat out, the disgust evident in her face.

"Oh." Peridot managed. She supposed Pearl had first hand experience of what Jasper's brothers were like.

"What the hell was she even doing here?" Pearl was growing more and more distressed by the second, her voice growing higher and higher every second.

"Hey, hey! She probably just wanted to sign up, Pearl. No biggie." Peridot placed a hand on the girl's quivering back.

"No way! She was here for me. Just to rile me up! Why else would she come here?" Peridot rubbed the back of her head, looking sheepish.

"Well, she is my room mate, so…"

Pearl turned and looked at her owlishly. Pity was written all over her face.

"Oh Peridot… I'm sorry."

"She's not that bad." Once again, Peridot was unwillingly drawn to Jasper's defense.

"How well do you know her?"

She paused. Over the two days that they had bunked, Peridot had hardly seen the larger girl, just heard someone enter and slam themselves on her bed sometime after midnight. She seemed to function on only a couple hours of sleep, waking up at five every morning and returning covered in sweat, heading straight to the showers, so that by the time Peridot had woken up properly, the room was empty.

"Not very well." She admitted, much to Pearl's relief.

"You'd know her if you'd lived around here like I do. She comes from a… bad family."

Peridot raised an eyebrow at the archaic term.

"Just cause her brothers are awful doesn't say anything about her, Pearl."

"No!" Pearl seemed exasperated at her inability to delicately express her meaning.

"I mean her family has…" she paused, pulling Peridot into a conspiratorial whisper and continued, "criminal connections."

"She's in the _mafia_!?" Peridot screeched, Pearl covering her hand with her mouth.

"Well not exactly but I bet she has," Pearl wiggled her eyebrows dramatically, "connections."

"You're pulling my leg. Her dad's the sweetest little man I've ever seen."

"That's just what he wants you to think." She muttered darkly, making Peridot giggle.

"It's no laughing matter, Peridot," the girl reprimanded, "Seriously, be careful around her."

"Don't worry Pearl," Peridot joked, "I could just take her out if she causes any trouble." She flexed ineffectually. Pearl harrumphed, though a smile twitched at the edges of her mouth. Feeling as though she had assuaged Pearl's anxiety, Peridot's focus turned to Jasper's offer.

"Hey, I've got to go," she said, earning a few waves and nods from the group as she strolled around. It was hardly difficult to spot the moving mass of white hair that operated a full foot above anyone else. Jasper was standing next to the wrestling club stand, almost at the other end of the quad.

"HEY YOU!" she yelled at a timid looking young man, "GET BUFF YOU PATHETIC PIECE OF MEAT! JOIN THIS CLUB!"

The boy ran away.

"God damn it…" the rest of her complaint was swallowed as she saw Peridot meandering towards her.

"Peridot!" she exclaimed happily, pulling the smaller girl into a hug before easily draping her arm over Peridot's shoulder. The girl blanched at this sudden physical contact, going stiff as a board while the romantic and fear parts of her brain screamed at each other.

"Came here to get swole." She said weakly, the joke feeble while she recovered, but it still earned a booming laugh from Jasper.

"Well, you came to the right place, darling." She grinned, her happiness turned predatory by the unnaturally sharp canines. Peridot couldn't help but be infused with a little bit of that enthusiasm, a smile forming on her lips without her permission. Peridot allowed herself to be coerced onto the wresting team, never actually intending to turn up to any meetings, and then into the recruitment committee. After a couple of hours of shouting ineffectually at strangers, Jasper started to lead Peridot around, showing her the other members. It seemed as though Jaspers already knew most of them from before university, as most of the students lived in the neighborhood. Most of the other members Peridot had trouble talking to further than basic introductions and an awkward hello, much to Jasper's exasperation, but there was one wrestler that she really got a kick out of talking to.

"Hey Rubes, this is my roommate, Peridot." Jasper introduced her to a dark, brooding girl crouched by the sidewalk. She plopped herself down on the grass next to her and Peridot settled herself in, much more carefully. Jasper had introduced her like that every time, and though Peridot knew it was stupid, she was very secretly enjoying the sense of ownership that came with the term _my roommate_.

"Why the hell do you think you can just bother me while I'm thinking?" bristled the older girl, and for a moment there was a dead silence, before both Ruby and Jasper burst out laughing, their chortles loosening the panic that had set itself in Peridot's face.

"You should have seen your friend's face." Ruby choked out, clenching her gut as she let out another guffaw. Peridot's face turned petulant as she realized the joke made at her expense.

"Yeah, she's cute." Jasper made the comment casually, but it still coloured Peridot's face in a alarming red, which only made Ruby laugh harder. The girl winked at Peridot while Jasper wasn't looking, gesturing towards the muscled girl and wiggling her eyebrows. Peridot stared blankly back at her, before nodding unsurely, not quite certain of what the girl meant.

"Hey Jasp, you should bring Peridot for a drink down at the student's union bar," she suggested.

"Uh, I'm not sure, we can get kinda rowdy." Jasper shot a concerned look at Peridot. "You up for it?"

Peridot gulped. She was getting in too deep, too fast. Jasper was going to try to befriend her, and she was going to slip up and accidentally tell her she was hot, or try and kiss her, or something.

"Yeah, sure." She replied, the answer already spreading a toothy grin on Jasper's face.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

"So then I told that bastard exactly where he can put his-"

"Okay, seems like someone's had enough." Jasper laughed, interrupting Peridot's story about the mailman and her shipment of tiny fezzes, the one that she told only after imbibing one whiskey to impress Jasper, and then three martinis after realizing no one cared, and then something called a "Slam Drunk" that had a little basketball inside of it, because at that point in her life, Peridot didn't think she'd ever seen something funnier.

"You know what?" Peridot slurred out angrily, turning and placing a hand on Jasper's lower sternum. "You're probably right." She slumped in the comfortable booth cushions and giggled vaguely. She far more sloshed than the other two at the bar, despite having drunk about the same amount, and was having difficulty keeping up with their sports talk. Her eyes struggled to focus to on the clock, and she realized they'd been at the bar for several hours. People had joined and left the group, mostly Jasper or Ruby's friends, but for a while it had just been the three of them, hanging out. Ruby and Jasper shared a lot of stories about growing up around here, and Peridot learned that Jasper had moved here from Russia when she was 13, after her mother died. They didn't talk about her brothers. Ruby had lived in the area all her life, and planned to move out to the city as soon as possible. Peridot tried to conceal how privileged her childhood had been, though she still received some raised eyebrows when she told them where she'd grown up. Still, the three seemed to slot together easily as friends, and when Jasper put her arms to rest on the top of Peridot's chair, Peridot was drunk enough to place her head on it coyly. Jasper did not comment.

Eventually, the bartender kicked them out, though not without receiving a mini basketball to the head (or a close to the head as Peridot could manage), and the three departed. Ruby gave Peridot a noogie and punched Jasper on the shoulder, wandering off to in the direction of her dorm. Peridot and Jasper, clinging drunkenly to each other, set off to find where their beds where. They arrived at the building and Peridot swiped her key card, only to find that it didn't work.

"Oh crap." She said, staring at it stupidly. "How do we get in?"

"I could punch the window open."

"Yeah right."

"What, you think I couldn't? I could bust us in there with one hand."

"Oh yeah? Prove it." Peridot stuck her tongue out playfully.

Jasper scoffed and wound her hand back to bash open the large glass window next to the door, her nose scrunching up with the effort. Peridot's eyes widened

"Crap! Jasper stop!" Peridot lunged to pull back Jasper's arm, taking an elbow directly to the face. She immediately crumpled to the floor, blood spurting from her nose.

"Jesus, oh Jesus," Jasper began to curse, sobering up a bit, kneeling down to help Peridot sit up and staunch the flow. She took off her shirt and gave it to Peridot to hold against her nose, who was in so much pain she only stared at Jasper's bared abdomen a little bit. She tilted her head back and checked to see if everything was still in place, which it was, just a little sore.

"I'm so sorry, Peri. Christ, are you okay?" Jasper was crouched over her, one arm around her back, the other stroking her knee comfortingly.

"Yeah, yeah, no broken bones." She said, waving Jasper away unenthusiastically, leaning into her arm slightly.

"It's not even our dorm," she sighed, pointing to the number painted on the side of the building.

"You're kidding," growled Jasper, turning to stare at the wall. She was silent a few seconds, until Peridot felt a chuckle pass through her. She stared at her, her own laugh bubbling under her mouth. Jasper returned the gaze, her smile spreading and a thick guffaw coming from her mouth.

"We're such idiots," panted Peridot, her laughter only making the nosebleed grosser. Jasper only laughed harder at Peridot's mess, lying down on the concrete floor as her sides split.

"Jesus," she snorted, peering up at the girl sitting next to her. Peridot placed her hand over Jasper's without looking at her, knowing she could pass it off as an accident if she needed to. Jasper picked Peridot's palm up and played with the fingers absentmindedly, tracing the lines along her hand. Peri shivered at her touch, and Jasper's brow furrowed in concern.

"If you're cold we should find the dorm," she said, getting up. Peridot cursed herself for responding so much to a simple touch, not one even that intimate, and allowed herself to be hoisted up. They stumbled around campus until the found a building that would let them in with their key cards. Slumped around Jasper's shoulder, Peridot didn't bother to move to her own bed when Jasper collided with the mattress, simply curling up against Jasper's warmth, too tipsy and tired to care.

She was awoken by Jasper moving around, managing to sit up, bleary eyed as the much larger girl rattled around the small room. Looking at the alarm, she was infuriated to see that it was 5.00 am, just before the hangover hit her and she had to hide under the blankets to stop the light from burning her retina to a crisp.

"Lightweight," teased Jasper, ruffling the back of her head and earning a murderous glare from her roommate.

"Sod off," she replied wittily, muffled by the layers of pillow her face was under. Jasper paused by the doorway, feeling responsible. She was torn between her roommate and her morning exercise routine.

"I swear if I lose any muscle mass because I'm caring for your weak ass, they'll be hell to pay." She yelled from the doorway, leaving for supplies. A few minutes later she came back with a jar of pickles, a lemon, coffee, sugar and several industrial sized water bottles. She threw one of these at the quilted lump that was Peridot, who squealed as it hit her head but crawled out nonetheless.

"Drink!" instructed Jasper, busying herself with the other items. Peridot complied groggily, spilling some on herself and swearing loudly.  
"Potty mouth," reprimanded Jasper, bringing a slice of lemon to Peridot's mouth, "this will clean that up." Peridot wrinkled her nose at the offending fruit slice, which was covered in sugar and coffee.

"Come on…" encouraged Jasper, nudging it at her lips. Peridot spluttered and opened up in surrender.

"You're supposed to suck it." Jasper told her with a smirk, making Peridot cough and spray coffee mix over the bed.  
"That's fucking gross," complained Jasper, waggling a pickle at Peridot disapprovingly before biting into it.  
"You're fucking gross," retorted Peridot around the lemon. It tasted horrible, but Peridot was feeling a bit better. Jasper winked and sucked on her dill seductively, making Peridot bury her head in her pillow as her entire face turned red.  
"You're so easy to wind up," chortled Jasper, chucking Peridot's shoulder, making her flop onto the bed. She heard a ding of the kettle come from down the hallway and the creak of bedsprings as Jasper got off the bed. Peridot allowed herself to drift back into sleep, placing the dry lemon on the bedside table.

An hour later, when she woke up sans-hangover, she stumbled into the kitchen to find a note scrawled in orange pen under a lukewarm mug of coffee. It was a phone number. Peridot mulled over it as she sipped her coffee. Certainly, it was practical that two roommates should know each other's phone numbers. And people usually ended a message with a little heart. It wasn't an indication of anything. Peridot grimaced, hating that she wanted so badly to interpret it as a sign of affection, her heart thrumming a beat of she-loves-me, she-loves-me-not.


	4. Chapter 4

Jasper felt, more than saw, Ruby sidle up to her as she sat at the curb outside her house. They had taken the weekend to visit their families, and already nostalgia was starting to set in. Ruby could see it in the way Jasper's eyes drifted across the splendid polluted sunset, the lights that were just starting to turn on in the old brick apartments.

"D'you remember when we climbed into Agate's parent's room through the fire escape to get our stash?" she was smiling the smile of the old Jasper, and Ruby couldn't help but grin back.

"Yeah, I remember you getting us caught." Ruby snorted, sitting down next to her large friend. She had been large all her life, and Ruby had watched the muscle sculpted out of fat as Jasper had become harder, become an adult.

"So you gonna invite me in or what? I know your dad's cooking his pasta."

Jasper smirked, groaning slightly as she lifted herself off the curb.

"Why ask when I know you're just gonna invite yourself in?" she offered a hand to help Ruby up, pulling the other girl up and straight into a noogie.

"No! Fucking hell! Gerroff!" Ruby squirmed, kicking Jasper so that she backed off, grinning, hands up in the air. Ruby growled and punched her on the shoulder, hard, grumbling.

"Thought you'd cut that shit out once you figured I could kick your ass," she patted her head tenderly.

"Here want me to rub it better for you?" Jasper offered, laughing as Ruby put her hands up in a mockery of a fight. Ruby could see the bruises blooming on Jasper's shins, felt bad for taking it too far, though Jasper would never acknowledge she hurt her. She was too scrappy in fights, responded too violently, too quickly. Just instinct. They walked inside the house, where the lights in the kitchen were blazing and Jasper could see the silhouette of her dad alone in the kitchen.

It was almost as though nothing had changed. They fell into their old routine, the familiar heat of the family kitchen making Jasper drowsy so that she set the table with loud clinks, almost re-chipping the chipped plates and glasses, slumping in her chair when she was finished and putting her feet up on the table only for Boris to immediately smack them off again. As she and Ruby waited for Boris to finish cooking, Jasper extending her huge body to occupy as much space as she could while Ruby fiddled with her cutlery. They chatted a little about various university characters, aware of Boris' keen ears. Occasionally he would snort at a funny anecdote, the whiskers of his beard making a little whistle as he did. Eventually, he sat down, pouring equal amounts of hot pasta onto their plates straight from the pan with caramelized onions. They dug in, and the ritualistic grilling began. First, they confirmed that yes, they were working hard at their studies, yes, they were not starting any trouble with teachers, yes, they were eating well. Jasper rolled her eyes at her dad's probing into her love life, and when he asked about the roommate she visibly scowled, making him change the subject nervously again to the coursework. It was as warm and cozy in the kitchen as it had always been, and by the end of the meal when the three of them sat, stuffed, around the tartan table, Jasper felt almost like the chubby child she had once been. The only difference being her brothers were no longer sat with them. Their chairs were still there, two empty seats between Jasper and her father, Boris. She sighed a little in contentment.

"I know, Jasper, that you miss your brothers as I miss them." Boris said sadly, his eyes also on the empty chairs.

"Yes, dad," she said sourly, exchanging a quick glance with Ruby.

When Jasper and Ruby were alone in her old room, silence enveloped them and the urge to break it became louder and louder until finally Ruby blurted.  
"Do you really miss your brothers?"

Jasper did not reply for a while, her face caught between answering and grimacing. Finally, she spit out,

"No."

She flopped down on the bed, turning her back on Ruby and staring at the wall. Ruby joined her, wrapping her arms around her legs as she sat at the end of the bed.

"Me neither," she admitted to the blanketed lump. It sat up.

"It's not something to be proud of, Ruby. They were- They ARE my family and I'm glad they're gone. That's not how I'm supposed to feel. And it's not like I can claim that I'm any better than them, that I'm the pure innocent girl and they were pigs. I'm just as bad as them, and if they're in jail I should be to."

Jasper's eyes were wild, her nails digging into the flesh of her palms. Ruby gulped.

"I-" she trailed off, looking away. "It's not your fault," she said lamely. Jasper snorted, the bed creaking as she thudded back down on it. Ruby's face set, and she nudged closer to Jasper with determination.

"It's not! Look, I know you still feel all messed up about Lapis, and I won't deny that was all kinda flavours of fucked up. But don't tell me you haven't been thinking about that girl you room with, P-something. I think you should go for it. You deserve..." Ruby faltered, thinking about the way Sapphire completed her, made her feel whole when she began spiralling. She didn't know how to help Jasper, didn't know how to reach wherever Jasper went when she thought about Lapis and what they had done to each other.

"You don't get it." Jasper mumbled, and Ruby couldn't argue. They sat in silence for a few moment more, before Jasper carried on.

"It's not just about getting over Lapis. You didn't see her family when she moved in- well, her mum actually. She dressed like crap and you wouldn't know it but Peri's loaded, and there's no way that mum would ever let her daughter have a-, well, have me, as a girlfriend. At most I'd just be her college phase. She'd talk about me later in secret with her other suburban mum friends and they'd laugh and have another fucking glass of wine. And that's not gonna happen. Not if I can do anything about it." Jasper's voice had turned dark and bitter, and Ruby stared in surprise at this side of her friend. She hadn't known Jasper to speak like this since her brothers had been imprisoned, in that tired, angry voice that sent shivers down Ruby's back.

"You can't go through life hurting forever Jasper. Not if I can do anything about it." Ruby needed to talk to Sapphire, needed to sort through all the shit Jasper had just dumped on her. She slipped out the bed room and crept out the house, leaving Jasper huddled up on the bed, and towards the comforting light of her girlfriend's apartment.


End file.
